Internet personas and self perception

[consonant]

this topic is very interesting to me because i think i fell into the trap of letting my online persona describe me when i was younger but i don't think i could wrap my head around what happened enough to actually say anything about it.
right now my internet personas don't describe me nearly as much as they used to and i feel pretty disconnected from them. i kind of feel connected to the names but any profile picture i use is usually just something i like looking at
Cute anime girl
but i think i've felt more disconnected with myself offline as well so i don't think i'd really give a shit about my online personas
also contrasting an anime girl with myself, who i usually view negatively, is funny to me
+ I'm just a degen

What about playing as a female character in all your video games because "I'd rather be looking at ass for 60 hours instead of a man bro"? Is this effect negligible or should we pay more attention to it when using the internet?

this is me in fgs
i don't remember when i saw it but i remember there was some tweet that said "If you always play girl characters all the time, you might be trans!", and i don't get where those feelings come from.
but i don't really project onto games with premade characters, if a game has a character creation i'll usually make something i feel is similar to me

 

[amn]

I sometimes use human accounts in other platforms to practice my communication skills. The distance between my real self and the digital persona is so large that I don't think I can mistake them two.

Still walking on four legs.

 

[WALFTEAM]

putting ourselves online - tHE r H i z z o n E

rhizzone.net

 

[Jackal]

A profile picture can be a rule but not a norm, a person with an anime pfp can be very masculine, even more than people who uses an historical character as a PFP, for example, i used to know a guy who was so larper of augustus caesar and he used his statue as a pfp, funny enough, that guy ended up being a "femboy" i do not judge a person by it's pfp, but yeah, i understand your point.

I suffer from a little identity crisis, no, not in gender, or something like that, but as a person, i'm becoming a person i used to admire, but i haven't talked to in about 5 years, it's not because i wanted to, it's, idk, perhaps it's my brain, or perhaps that person was like me in the past and i just following some sort of inconscient path while retaining some traits of myself, it's not related to a pfp or user tho, i always used this kind of aesthetics, but i don't feel feminine so far, no complex, nothing really, tbh i felt more an alcoholic, but i think all of this is because i'm a latin american, and our culture is like that, idk really, i got more important stuff going on than caring about pfp and schizo rambling.

 

[FreshSk8r]

TL;DR: It depends.

Personally, I've never thought of an anime avatar reflecting my real self pretty much at all. Of course, besides the fact that I watch anime. Gross, I know.
I tend to fall under the "using the online identity as a separate entity then reality" category. I change avatars quite often, sometimes even usernames. But I'm also lazy, so this time I literally just picked the first character that showed up from a show I've seen and posted it as my icon. Zero thought went into it. However I do like anime profiles, as they're close enough to a conventional "picture of a person's face" photo while also preserving some anonymity.

Most of the normienet has become a place where things are taken way too seriously, and it reflects in the way people assert themselves. People who hide behind an anime picture might not be taken seriously, which makes sense in a cyberspace where people are encouraged to be their real self online. However, having your online persona as an extension of your real self has led to a far more hostile and dangerous environment for most, as anything anyone has ever said can be used, even out of context, as a direct and very real attack. I personally don't like the thought of anyone stumbling across my profile and instantly knowing everything about me, especially when so much can be misunderstood, so I try to stay away from any such form of identification in general.

Though I can totally understand how a profile could reflect someone's real identity. I've seen anime avatars change to actual photos once the account owner is more confident in themselves and other similar cases.

In the end, I think it all falls down to how much we really care about others' opinions, or how much we trust others. I just don't like sharing personal details with every rando on the street, and I'm sure a lot of other anime avatars could fall under the same category as me. Or maybe they're all /d/egenerates, I don't know.

EDIT: I have sinned by using a zoomer abbreviation. Forgive me, o Ruby Hexagon.

 

[MorphedSnowman]

for example, i used to know a guy who was so larper of augustus caesar and he used his statue as a pfp, funny enough, that guy ended up being a "femboy"

Guys be drooling over pictures of buff greek statues and powerful men and still be calling themself straight.

 

[Max Chill]

Inferring from the entirety of my experiences in the internet, I've observed that internet personas/avatars either serves to symbolize what the person desires, what they want to be seen as, or what they see themselves as. It can be fatally taken seriously, or it could be merely passive. The moment it becomes alarming is if you start caring too much how you're probably being seen as or start molding how you want to be seen too much (overbranding). I probably recall reading or watching about how the internet is probably responsible for triggering an evolution in our consciousness, kinda sounds like a metaphysical version of the MGS2 Patriots' monologue.

I mean, I deadass chose this gif of a spinning cube frame on a Roman bust to instead symbolize my internalizing of the absurd, a senseless repetition/cycle of life yet still ripe of doing all we are up for.

 

[Deleted member 2362]

I've observed that internet personas/avatars either serves to symbolize what the person desires, what they want to be seen as, or what they see themselves as

What about people with dog avatars

 

[Max Chill]

What about people with dog avatars

They're kinda chill. But we all know what their content is if it's a Cheems

 

[Outer Heaven]

content

Comtent*

 

[EatFakePlants]

I've thought about the idea of a "digital soul" for a while. I once heard that when we write/create art we move a little bit of our soul outside of our bodies, so the works we create in life can embody our soul after death. In a similar way, I think that our digital personas slowly start to encorperate more of our souls as we use them. Every post, every message, contains a fraction of our being (in a sense) and that can certainly be reflected by our profiles.

 

[Deleted member 2652]

I've thought about the idea of a "digital soul" for a while. I once heard that when we write/create art we move a little bit of our soul outside of our bodies, so the works we create in life can embody our soul after death. In a similar way, I think that our digital personas slowly start to encorperate more of our souls as we use them. Every post, every message, contains a fraction of our being (in a sense) and that can certainly be reflected by our profiles.

Interesting. I totally see where you're coming from. That something so trivial as a pfp can still offer a glimpse to the infinite reaches of one's soul. I suppose you can, to draw a somewhat crude comparison, even liken it to painting. A carefully-worded post, even a status update, is like applying small, delicate brush strokes on a canvas. The canvas in this instance being the totality of one's perception/identity. This is not to say our online profile represents our authentic selves completely however, let that be clear. Putting it like that it does sound silly and reductive. However, I do agree that we impart a little of bit of "us" each time we post some dumb emoji or video. I'm also of the opinion that our real life identity and online personas can co-exist naturally as opposed to something that must be reconciled or pathologized.

But yeah, keep it up with these posts! Every contribution to The Road no matter how small, imbues me with curiosity and creativity.

 

[Chen]

What about people with dog avatars

 

[Jackal]

View attachment 15974

 

[Fairykang]

Time for our bimonthly article on how playing as a female character in an mmo helped someone come out as trans.

 

[Slinger]

Profile pictures tells me rather If I should interact with this anonymous user or not.

 

[Jessica3cho雪血⊜青意]

Profile pictures tells me rather If I should interact with this anonymous user or not.

>No profile picture
>Tells me newfag and should bully

Get a profile picture you newfag

 

[Slinger]

>No profile picture
>Tells me newfag and should bully

Get a profile picture you newfag

Better?

 

[SomaSpice]

Better?

Unironically, yes.

 

[Deleted member 2362]

Profile pictures tells me rather If I should interact with this anonymous user or not.

Ultimately this whole thing is as nonsensical as those wiccan witch thots saying they won't date men with ascendants in virgo. The younger generations are more interested in finding points of contention than unity. Ask yourself if this is the right path.